He then quotes a Palestinian fighter in Afghanistan to show his definition of jihad: holy war against the West and violence against ‘Jews and infidels.’ Such a simplistic and superficial definition of jihad causes him to blame all Muslims for the consequences of militant Islam. His book leaves readers with the idea that all Muslim immigrants are potential terrorists simply because they are Muslim. He completely ignores the identity of the American Muslim population, painting Islam as a ‘foreign’ and ‘terrorist’ ideology that has penetrated American society. In short, his book depicts any identification with Islam as a threat everyone, non-Muslims and Muslims alike because it cannot coexist with other religions due to its inherent nature of allowing Muslims to impose their faith on others. Furthermore, Emerson deliberately leaves the word ‘Allah’ untranslated in his book in order to give off the idea that the Muslims’ concept of God is different from the Judeo-Christian concept of God. He also uses terminology such as ‘holy jihad’ and ‘militant jihad’ in order to instill fear in his readers.
Evidence
On Monday, November 20, 2006, six imams were removed from a U.S. Airways flight as they tried to head back home to Phoenix from the North American Imams Federation conference in Minneapolis. The New York Times reported that a fellow passenger passed a note to a crewmember claiming there were six suspicious Arabs on the plane who had said the word Allah several times and cursed the United States’ “involvement with Saddam Hussein” (Sander 2006). In the note, the passenger also provided the seat numbers for the imams. As a result of this note, the imams were handcuffed, removed from the plane, and then interrogated for several hours by the FBI. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 205 (
#exemplifies, via linked claim)
Categorization
- corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim
- XREF: connects to: When we think of jihad, what comes to mind? Holy war? ISIS? Violence? Terrorism? These are very common conceptions of jihad due to Western media portrayals of the term. When we turn on the news, we frequently see instances of terrorism in the name of Islam (primarily violence caused by the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria, or ‘ISIS’). In fact, many Americans believe that Islamic jihad connotes violence, hatred of non-Muslims, and ‘holy war.’ Dictionary.com defines jihad as ‘a holy war undertaken as a sacred duty by Muslims’ and ‘any vigorous, emotional crusade for an idea or principle.’ The United States Department of Justice has even used ‘holy war’ as a definition of jihad in cases where an individual was indicted for an act of terrorism. Portrayals of jihad by American media lead to Americans’ misunderstanding of this term, thereby contributing to the construction of Islamophobia in America.; There is no universally accepted definition of jihad and nor has there ever been throughout history. There is not even one definition currently accepted by all Muslims. Rather, the doctrine of jihad is the product of the interpretations of various individuals and authorities and how they have applied the principles of sacred texts in various historical and political contexts.; Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi said in 2006 that ‘We have fifty million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe—without swords, without guns, without military conquests. The fifty million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.’ (Spencer 2009). This quote has been cited as evidence of ‘hijra’ on websites such as Refugee Resettlement Watch (Corcoran 2015a) and Jihad Watch (Spencer 2009). (+13 more)
Related
- Steve Emerson is a self-proclaimed expert on terrorism, Islamic extremism, and intelligence. Emerson has been one of the main actors in the exploitation of fears revolving around jihad and the… (similarity 0.88)
- Saying the word Allah on a plane triggered detention of six imams (similarity 0.84)
- Saying the word Allah on an airplane can get passengers handcuffed and interrogated. (similarity 0.82)
Broader Connections
- Steve Emerson is a self-proclaimed expert on terrorism, Islamic extremism, and intelligence. Emerson has been one of the main actors in the exploitation of fears revolving around jihad and the…
#responds-to(0.90) - Saying the word Allah on an airplane can get passengers handcuffed and interrogated.
#exemplifies(0.80) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 205 - Saying the word Allah on a plane triggered detention of six imams
#exemplifies(0.80) - Anti-Muslim polemics function to define their authors’ identity rather than describe Islam.
#corroborates(0.70) — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 124 - Radicalization theory treats Islam as inherently violent like eugenics treated races
#corroborates(0.60) - Clash-of-civilizations rhetoric ideologically legitimized both foreign wars and domestic attacks
#corroborates(0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 421 - Counterterrorism rhetoric masks an offensive campaign against Muslims.
#corroborates(0.50) - State loyalty pressure has rendered public Islam indistinguishable from Judeo-Christian civic discourse
#complicates(0.50)